Where would we be without cables? They can be an annoying, tangled mess of wires and often form a tripping hazard in the home, but they connect our lives in so many different ways. They charge our phones, deliver our favourite television shows and connect the world wide web from one server to another. There are almost as many different types of cable as there are uses for them. One of the latest developments is the Category 8, or Cat 8, network cable.

Of all the types of cable available, Cat 8 promises to be the ‘next generation of cabling systems’. It offers enhanced data and multimedia applications, which does away with other multi-cable solutions. From a business perspective, it gives companies a valuable, but often underestimated advantage; the freedom of choice.

Cat 8 cables are at the cutting edge of data communications and the standards for which are being developed by two main organisations in the telecommunications cabling industry; the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO) in combination with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

Since March 2013, the relevant authorities have defined two new categories for 4-pair, copper twisted pair cables with 2 connectors, an operating frequency of 1.6GHz and possible overhead for 2.0 GHz. There is a Class I channel, known as Category 8.1, and a Class II, known as Category 8.2.

Category 8.1, the class I channel, uses conventional RJ45 connectors and is backward compatible with Cat 6a cabling. The class II, Cat 8.2, on the other hand, is also backward compatible but with Cat 7a cabling standard and it uses the GG45 or Tetra connector. Category 8 cabling will be for 40GBASE-T links, with a preferred connector footprint of RJ45, although this hasn’t yet been finalised.

Both Class I and Class II Category 8 cabling is planned to support thirty metre cabling channels containing no more than 2 connectors. Supporting the emerging 25G / 40GBASE-T applications, these channels are specially targeted to be deployed at the data centre ‘edge’ where server-to-switch connections are made. Basically, data centres will be seeing data transfer at four times the speed at which the current cabling standards support. From an application perspective, it makes great sense and is likely to be economically beneficial too.The overall length of the Cat 8 cabling channel is to be limited to thirty metres to allow it to support 40Gb data transmission.

If your business has any sort of information network, you will be familiar with structured cabling. Structured cabling is an important aspect in ensuring your system's capabilities perform at their most efficient capacity in order to support the needs of the business. The advancement in cabling technologies, contained within the Cat 8 cables, means that new discoveries and innovative approaches can be built into existing systems, particularly within data centre applications where Cat 8 is expected to dominate.

Despite all the technical developments, Cat 8 cabling will look and feel very similar to previous cabling standards and the installation methods won’t change dramatically. They will not require any additional power to operate, but thanks to lower insertion loss and DC resistance these new cables may offer greater energy efficiency. It will be possible to install these cables in existing pathways and conduits, although existing infrastructure may need an upgrade in order to support 25 and 40GBASE-T.

We are still waiting for the TIA and ISO standards to be ratified, but 2016 is promising to be the year data centres genuinely venture into the next generation.

For high-quality data cabling in Birmingham and the surrounding areas, contact Midland Networks today.